Combatives versus Martial Arts

Combatives is not an art...gloving up two individuals in a controlled environment is not necessarily going to prepare you to defend yourself on the street.  The sparring style training is where two people are standing back waiting for the other to attack, so they can defend or attack.

You will certainly learn the ability to take a shot and put shots together, however this is far from the reality of the street.  For starters, when you spar, you both practice this kind of training with reverence, whereas on the streets, combative are irreverent.

The days of old school boxing on the street corner are long gone; to use it as a method of training for the street is not preparing a student for a real attack.  On the street you will find the predator will attack in two ways...

1 - a surprise attack...you will not see it coming and it will more likely come from behind.

2 - the predator will use artifice (trickery) to engage your brain and distract you, so they can launch an attack.

The way to deal with this is...

• be aware of your surroundings
• understand and recognise pre threat cues
• understand contact management, protecting your personal space and the use of artifice yourself to set up a pre emptive strike

This is all part of the Combatives plan and will be explained and put into practice during PSP seminars by Gary and myself, giving you the soft skills needed to back up the hard skills, should you need to implement them.

PSP Charity Seminar

Not long to now before Gary and myself roll out the first Precision Self Protection seminar in Chesterfield on February 15th...full venue address on the poster and to book a place email wimbledonbjj@yahoo.com

Wednesday madness!

Rounded off an awesome month with the busiest Wednesday class since records began at the club...up North and down here, Wednesday night was my nemesis, whatever I did numbers were always lower than all my other classes during the week.

Hopefully this is now no longer the case, as numbers have been as good as my Monday classes for the last six months, so long may this upturn continue.

Plenty of shark tanks last night for everyone competing, without complaints...

Ooos!

Wednesday night - FULL HOUSE!

Busiest class last night!

Finally hit and passed the twenty mark last night in class; it's been threatened to come many a class, but has fallen short by one or two bodies until last night, when twenty one monkeys hit the mats and pushed everyone competing at the Nova Grappling event well and truly hard.

Great work and turn out, looking forward to more of the same tomorrow night.

Ooos!

Saturday competition class

Managed to sneak in an extra competition class at the weekend over at Wimbledon BJJ, as the monkeys continue to prepare for the Nova Grappling event in March.  A good turnout for a change for a weekend, with a number of blue belts on hand to help the white belts competing, two of them for the first time, a real team effort with plenty of hard work and shark tanks for everyone :)

Saturday class tomorrow

Looking forward to the first monthly Saturday class of the new year tomorrow afternoon 130pm sharp!

These sessions are invaluable for all the students, whether or not they compete; the more hours on the mats the better and tomorrow will be a session not to be missed as always, lots of shark tanks, specifics and rolling for everyone...

Last night's class

Tantalisingly close to hitting the twenty mark this month, if only everyone turned up together on the night we'd be closer to thirty than twenty!  That said, I'm sure we'll be hitting and surpassing this number at some point in the year, in the mean time lots of hard work from everyone once again last night, as we prepare for competition in March at the Nova Grappling competition.

We have the bonus of an extra class on Saturday afternoon, so plenty more shark tanks and rolling ahead for everyone, it's a team effort, so everyone's input is great appreciated by all those competing in March.

Ooos!

The ladies of Wimbledon BJJ

One of my main goals teaching at Wimbledon BJJ, is to build up the number of female students at the club, as I feel that more women should be training Jiu Jitsu, as there are so many health and wellbeing benefits associated with it, as well as it being lots of fun, plus there's a great social side of membership for all the students to enjoy.

Over the years, the club has had women come and go, mainly due to visa issues, but now the club has two new female students who are local to the area, Jenny and Teri and they have gelled with the lads overnight and are putting the hours and hard work in with the lads and keeping them in check.

It's a real pleasure having them on board at the club and hopefully we can attract more women to the club once they see Jenny and Teri in team photos online.

Teri (left) and Jenny (right) with the Northern Monkey

BJJ Digest - UFC 246 post mortem

Euros Training Camp - Day 7

They say all good things come to an end and today marked the end of the Euros Training Camp at London Fight Factory. I missed the class yesterday having to wait in for contractors to turn up (three hours late) so I didn't want to miss the last session with Deninho at lunchtime today.

As always, an awesome class from Deninho, drilling some Judo takedowns before heading into the fun part of class...sparring!

I managed to get in a respectable six rounds with the guys in the photo below with Sharpey and Deninho jumping in for one last team photo and I will see how I am in the morning when I try to get my socks on, as to whether my body held up against these animals that reside at LFF :)

HUGE thanks as always to Luiz for arranging such an awesome start to the decade and to Deninho for all the awesome classes and to Maggie for the wicked seminar yesterday, lots and lots to take in and drill and sharpen up with monkeys tomorrow night and beyond.

Ooos!

Last night's class

The festive season is all but a distant memory here at Wimbledon BJJ, as we carry on preparing for the first competition of the year at Croydon Judo Club; the Nova Grappling event is a competition for white and blue belts only and for a number of monkeys, this will be their first taste of competition, but they have seasoned competitors at the club training up for the comp, so they will be looked after in the run up to the time when they step out into the middle and the fight is on...

Lots of hard work from everyone last night in class, whether competing or not, every training camp is a team effort; every student has something to add to the pot, regardless of how long they've been training.

More of the same tomorrow night...

Ooos

New black belt at LFF!

HUGE congrats to one of my regular training partners down at London Fight Factory, Aaron Neil, on his well deserved promotion to black belt today, at the start of the Maggi Grindatti seminar...it was a pleasure and an honour to be there for such a momentous occasion and to train with Aaron throughout the seminar today.

Ooos!!

Maggie Grindatti seminar @ LFF...

Rounded off what can only be described as an awesome week of Jiu Jitsu training, with a seminar at London Fight Factory with newly minted Fight Sports Miami black belt Maggie Grindatti in her first ever seminar at black belt...it was a masterclass in passing the half guard with lots of what if scenarios and plenty of live applications of the techniques shown and I'm really looking forward to adding her techniques and tips into my own half guard game and testing it all out next week with my monkeys in class...

Ooos!

Third Dan Traditional Jiu Jitsu training underway...

It's been twenty years since I was graded to second Dan in Traditional Jiu Jitsu up in Bolton by Trevor Roberts and since I moved down to London, I've been looking for a decent place to carry on training.

Sadly, finding anywhere decent has been a struggle and I put it to the back of my mind and forgot about it for about 18 months; at the back end of 2018, I met Adrian Starr at a seminar in Coventry and through this Shorinji Kempo instructor, I was invited to teach at one of his multi style seminars in 2019 and it was there I met Colin Foster from Zentai Ju Jitsu in Gosport.

This led to Colin and I becoming friends and after both Colin and Adrian attended one of my Saturday classes at Wimbledon BJJ, I contacted Colin and asked him if he could help me get back into training Trad JJ and prepare for my third Dan grading.

Colin gracefully accepted and at 10am this morning, my training began at Colin's dojo in Portsmouth, bringing along one of my blue belts George to be my uke.

The two hour session flew by and we only covered half the throws required for the grading, so lots of hard work and more visits ahead, but we will get there at some point this year.

Huge thanks to Adrian for inviting me to teach for him, otherwise all of this would have never happened and to Colin and his students for taking me on board and lastly to George for being a great uke.

Ooos!

Euros Training Camp - Day 5

Day 5 of the training camp down at London Fight Factory and an end to an awesome week of intense competition training; today was an open mat session and I had the unenviable task of having two long rolling sessions with black belts Wayne and Andre, which, apart from being miserable at times when under the pressure of side control or being choked out, it was also a lot of fun!

Had a few more rolls with a handful of white and blue belts to round off the session and looking forward to being back there on Sunday afternoon for the seminar with Maggie Grindatti.

Ooos

Euros Training Camp - Day 4

Day 4 of the training camp here at London Fight Factory and Thursday is sparring day; after a warm up and a guard pass drill from Deninho, it was a full sixty minutes dedicated to five minute rounds with one minute rest, no excuses, anyone that did less than the minimum rounds had to do press ups at the end of class.

One of my students Charles is competing in the Nova Grappling comp in March and he made it down for the class for some extra rounds in a bid for another gold medal.

Nine black belts were on the mats for the lunchtime class, so no easy rolls, not that there are any easy rolls here whatever day, month or year it is, only hard work and relentless grind and shoulder pressure...

Ooos

Last night's class

Another killer session for the monkeys last night, everyone working hard to get the students ready for the Nova Grappling comp in March; the white belts are now reaping the benefits of having a dozen blue belts at the club, as they invariably get to partner up with a blue belt when drilling.

So it's no more a case of the blind leading the blind anymore, which leads to the white belts improving at a much faster rate and then they're able to return the favour once they get their blue belts and help out the new starters when they come through the doors, making it a win/win situation all round for everyone at the club.

Ooos!

Euros Training Camp - Day 3

Another solid lunch time session done and dusted for the Northern Monkey today, still a bit of fight left in the old dog as he starts his fifth decade on the planet.  Packed mats once again with seven black belts pushing everybody hard as the Euros loom on the horizon next week.

Passing on the gold from Deninho on tonight over at Wimbledon BJJ, as the monkeys continue to prepare for the Nova Grappling competition in March, so lots of hard work for everyone in the Fight Sports London and Miami crew!

Ooos!

Fight Sports Miami ladies at London Fight Factory!

It's Day 2 of the Europeans Training Camp at London Fight Factory and the lunchtime class was once again covered by Deninho, who carried on from the takedown yesterday and progressed the closed guard lapel attack.

With Maggi

We were also graced with more Fight Sports Miami black belts in the shape of Cyborg's fiancee Maggi Grindatti, who is making her black belt debut at the Euros and two stripe black belt Sofia Amarante, who will also be competing in Lisbon.

With Sofia

In addition, the technical brains behind Cyborg's BJJ World Champion online academy Carlos Joya, was also in attendance, both training in the lunchtime class and filming the class in action.

The mats were packed with Lisbon bound competitors and regular trainers, everyone benefited from the class today and Deninho really inspired the class with his teaching and team spirit building throughout the class and I'm looking forward to another brilliant session tomorrow lunchtime, whether or not my body can take the punishment!

Oooos

Competition class at Wimbledon BJJ

Killer comp class last night with the Monkeys, as they prepare for their first comp of the year at the Nova Grappling event in March at Croydon Judo Club.

Took the class through the gold left by Deninho at yesterday's lunch time class at London Fight Factory and will be going back down there later today for the lunchtime class, looking forward to more top tips and hard work...

Ooos

Fight Sports Miami at London Fight Factory...

A brilliant start to the week with a lunchtime class taken by Deninho, who is here in the UK, preparing for the Euros in Lisbon, alongside Felipe Porto, who's fighting in the purple belt division.

A couple of other Miami warriors will be gracing the mats tomorrow, so lots to look forward this week....

Ooos!

Shark tank Wednesday

Another busy session last night, with lots of hard work from everyone, pushing those who are competing in March and rolling out first shark tanks of the new year for good measure...six five minute rounds for the competitors with minimum rest period and no complaints, getting the competition mindset in order as well as the physical.

Oooos!

Last night's class

It was the club's first class of the new year and decade last night and the mats were packed with eager monkeys, ready to burn off the Christmas excesses and start preparing for the Nova Grappling event in March.

The club is yet to operate at full capacity, as a number of students are still away and some have succumbed to the dreaded Man Flu; however, the club now has its second female student, who had her first class last night, so up to now, I really cannot complain, it's a fantastic start for the club.

Onwards and upwards!

We are open tonight!

Really excited to be hitting the mats at Wimbledon BJJ, with the rest of the monkeys :)

Lots of exciting things ahead in the new year and decade, first and foremost is getting ready for the Nova Grappling event in March, the hard work starts tonight...

Oooos

How to get DQ'd in BJJ - 2020

I love these videos, always posted at the start of the year, so watch and learn what NOT to do in a grappling match!

Precision Self Protection - Charity Seminar

Looking forward to rolling out the PSP seminars, first one to be held in Chesterfield on February 15th...contact details on the poster, book early avoid disappointment :)

Happy New Year and Decade!

To all my grappling and striking friends around the world... HAPPY NEW YEAR AND DECADE!!